A series of pictures and factoids for Create's NaJoPoMo Challenge.

This is an Orangerie. I'm not sure what this is. It might be a place to grow oranges. It was built in the 18th Century in this marvelous place called Gotha. Gotha is in Thuringia, where the sausages come from. When we saw the Orangerie, there were no oranges. It was snowing. The bare trees were coated in sparkling ice. It was a winter wonderland, as Elektra reminds me.

Elektra and I spent a couple of days in Gotha around New Year's, 1992. We had some cheap airline tickets, the Wall was down, and we were dying to see what East Germany looked like. It was deadly cold, snow everywhere, but we just wrapped up and hiked all over the place. We had a ball.

Gotha's a cool town. Lots of old stuff. We didn't get to see the zeppelin tower, a pity. The medieval church is lovely, though. Gotha's really close to Erfurt, so it's Reformation territory. You can tell from the architecture.

The nice thing about seeing Thuringia so soon after Reunification was that you got glimpses of what Germany was like before. Before Wienerwald, you know? There was an old tram. The trains we rode on still said 'RB'. The place had no neon, no grocery chains, nothing but local colour. Snow, yes. But local snow. The food was good.

Me, I enjoy variety. The total absence of Starbucks is, to me, a promise that here, people are being themselves. So there wasn't a lot in the entertainment line. So what? There was something to see around every corner.